


Can't Help Falling in Love

by thehorrorinsymmetry



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, background rey/jess but i don't want to tag for the amount there is, bit of ust/pining, cw for character injury and a mention of blood but it's not really graphic, i'll put an explicit cw in the bottom note so check that if you're worried, the au is they go to the same gym, the t rating is really just to be super safe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-05 02:02:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11003670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehorrorinsymmetry/pseuds/thehorrorinsymmetry
Summary: Poe is kind of a disaster around cute guys but Finn takes it really well.





	Can't Help Falling in Love

Poe Dameron is a perfectly healthy 29 year old man.

Aside from a couple of broken bones - which healed just fine, thank you - he’s never gotten much worse than the totally run of the mill sniffles. His recent decision to join a gym has nothing to do with the fact that he’s almost nearly no longer going to be able to say he’s in his 20’s or that his joints seem to crack on the regular these days for no reason - he just has a sudden interest in spending some of his free time running in place while staring at a wall followed by pushing and pulling various metal bars and make himself stiff for the whole next day.

Really.

The first time he goes isn’t so bad. He goes with Karé and manages to spend about twenty minutes on the treadmill - about half of which he has a decent jog going - and follows her lead on the weight machines without thinking too hard about how all of the machines look like they could reasonably be used as torture contraptions. He nearly pulls a muscle when he tries the seated high row machine but gets away without any major injuries - including his pride - so all in all he considers it a win.

The fourth time is when things start to go awry.

It’s the first time he goes to the gym by himself which is fine because he’s a grown man and doesn’t need someone to keep him out of trouble during a mundane activity, and Karé gave him an ordered list of what machines to use today. It’s fine right up until he’s on his second set on the pec fly machine.

The gym is nearly empty so some movement in his peripheral vision catches his attention. He glances up and nearly loses his grip on the machine when he sees a man walking through the lobby.

He’s  _ gorgeous _ .

Poe has seen a handful of attractive men in the gym, sure, but he’s never been into the whole gym bunny, overly-muscled kind of guy that always seems to be here. This guy, on the other hand, is pushing just about every button Poe has -  he clearly has some strength to him but it’s under a layer of cuddle-able softness, like he’d give good hugs and it wouldn’t feel like Poe was trying to cuddle a brick wall. He’s roughly Poe’s height so neither of them would have to strain just to kiss, and he’s got a beautifully round, utterly kissable face.

The man glance his way and for a moment all is still as Poe gets caught in his gaze, precious as a pair of gleaming onyx gemstones.

Surely they only hold the eye contact for a matter of seconds - everyone at the gym seems to be averse to such an act - but it feels as if that moment stretches out for an hour. Poe is caught, captivated, helpless to fight this man’s gravitational pull until all too soon the man turns away and walks towards the other side of the gym.

Poe pushes the bars together.

The heat in his ace is obviously an effect of overexertion.

Clearly.

 

\--

 

Over the next couple of months he manages to make gym time a fairly solid part of his routine. He goes two or three times a week, sometimes with his friends and sometimes alone. He cools it on the weights but begins to develop a small - but existent nonetheless - appreciation for cardio. The gym has free wi-fi for members so he’s able to pull up Netflix on his phone and watch part of a movie instead of just blankly staring at a wall while his mind wanders a little too far.

Cute Gym Guy becomes a fairly regular presence. He’s there every Thursday just after seven like clockwork - which has nothing to do with why Poe decided to continue going then, it just happens to fit his schedule - but sometimes Poe catches him on other days too. Not that he’s been looking for him, or anything.

He sometimes works out with someone else - a tiny woman that does the most intense exercises Poe’s ever seen and looks like she could kick his ass without breaking a sweat. Cute Gym Guy seems to be pretty affectionate - not that it’s relevant - judging by how much he smiles and hugs and high-fives the woman.

They’re definitely together.

Not that it matters.

On the plus side, he’s finally developing the pretend-you’re-the-only-person-in-the-room skill that everyone else seems to have mastered. He gets pretty good at playing cool and ignoring Cute Gym Guy and his girlfriend right up until he sees her fleeing the gym with a dark mark on her neck that hadn’t been there when she walked into the women’s changing room a few minutes earlier.

Jess walks out a moment later with messy hair and a dazed expression on her face. She blinks at him, her cheeks flushed dark as she tries to fix her ponytail. “Her name’s Rey. We actually started talking a while ago, which you might have noticed if you were able to notice anything other than Finn.”

Poe blinks.

“Cute Gym Guy? His name is Finn. He’s 25, and single.” Jess smirks. “And apparently very bi.”

“Wait - they’re not -”

“Nope,” Jess pops the p sound.

Oh.

Jess claps him on the shoulder. “Go get ‘em, tiger. I’ve gotta go, got a date to plan.”

 

\--

 

Poe catches a cold from one of his students. It’s hardly the sickest he’s ever been but it lingers like nobody’s business and for a couple of weeks all of Poe’s energy is spent trying to keep 24 eight year olds entertained for a whole day. It takes three weeks for him to feel totally back to himself and another two to find the motivation to watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine on the elliptical instead of his very comfortable couch with BB.

He doesn’t go on Thursday.

It’s all fine.

 

\--

 

He carefully squeezes the folder full of math assignments into his already stuffed bag, singing under his breath in the empty classroom. The kids had hauled ass as soon as the bell rang, eager to go home for the weekend and forget all about the homework he’s given them. He grins when he finally manages to zip his bag up. “And that’s how you do that.”

He nearly jumps out of his skin when someone knocks at his door. Turning and seeing Rey watching him does absolutely nothing to settle his racing heart.

“Um, hi?”

“You’re Poe, right?”

“Yes?”

She stands there stiffly. “Can you tell me where Jess is? I was supposed to meet her but I can’t find her room.”

“Oh,” Poe blinks. “Yeah, course. I’ll show you her room, just one sec.”

Rey smiles - it’s small, but Poe considers it a win. “Thanks.”

Rey is silent as he leads her down the hallway. He grips the strap of his shoulder bad tight. “So - it’s going well with Jess?”

“Yes,” Rey nods. “I think so.”

“She seems really happy."

Rey flushes but her smile seems to soften. She glances at him. “Are you still going to the gym? Finn says he hasn’t seen you in a while.”

Poe chokes on nothing. He clears his throat and fights to get his breathing under control, heat rushing through his face. “I - um - I had a cold, it took me a while to recover.”

Rey nods and opens her mouth but before she can say anything Jess jogs out of her room and nearly runs into them. “Oh! There you are.” She smiles at Rey, delighted to see her, and pulls her in for a quick kiss hello which - it’s good. He’s happy for her. He’s not jealous.

Really.

 

\--

 

Like lots of things tend to eventually do, it all goes to hell one day.

It’s a Monday. Not that that’s relevant.

It’s actually a decent day right up until he’s a mile deep on the treadmill. He’s got a good pace going and is enjoying Atlantis when it happens.

He glances up and his gaze lands on a familiar sight. Finn is using the lat pull-down, concentrating on the bar he’s pulling down to his chest. The machine is just on the other side of the small foyer, close enough that he can see a bead of sweat make its way down Finn’s neck and settle at his collarbone. He takes a deep breath and almost trips when he realizes Finn is looking back at him.

Finn is looking at him.

He swallows.

It’s been far too long, too many seconds ticking away since he met Finn’s gaze, the unspoken rule of allowable eye contact long since broken.

Finn smiles.

Poe feels his foot catch on the treadmill and then everything goes black.

 

\--

 

The ceiling is dirty.

How did the ceiling get dirty?

Why is he looking at the ceiling?

The ceiling is dirty.

How did the ceiling get dirty?

Why is he looking at the ceiling?

He blinks.

The world is spinning, just a little bit.

He tries to put his hand on the ground to settle himself but something catches on his wrist. He huffs.

There’s a dull sound, low and calming over the ringing in his ears. He blinks at the hand wrapped around his arm.

“- you hear me?”

What?

“Poe? Do you know where you are?”

He looks up, his gaze eventually focusing on Finn’s beautiful face. Finn stares back at him with his beautiful eyes, like onyx.

The gemstone. Not the giant pokemon. Pretty, shiny stones.

“Poe?”

Finn knows his name. Since when does Finn know his name?

He looks around and realizes he’s laying at the end of a treadmill, a little bit of blood on it, near his head. Why is there blood? Finn is still sitting there, practically on top of him, and he knows Poe’s name.

Holy shit.

He  _ knew _ joining the gym would lead to his demise. He blinks at Finn. “Is this heaven?”

“What? No.” Finn frowns. Poe frowns too because Finn shouldn’t be frowning, he should be happy. “You’re in the gym. You just fell off your treadmill.”

“Oh.” He nods. “Are you an angel?”

The corner of Finn’s mouth twitches into a smile.

Nice.

“I’m a nurse, actually.” Finn clears his throat, his fingers pressing into Poe’s wrist. “I think you might have a concussion. You wiped out pretty hard, there.”

“Oh.” Finn’s hand is really warm.

“Can you tell me what day it is?”

“Uh, Monday?”

“Mhmm, and the date?”

“November… 20th?” He pauses. “I’m not good with the date, normally.”

Finn chuckles. “You actually got it, good job man.”

He just made Finn laugh. This has to be heaven, right? It’s very heavenly, aside from being a gym and the ugly ceiling. And the pain in his head and side and leg.

“I think you might have a minor concussion. You should go to the hospital, okay? Just to make sure everything’s good.”

“I’m good.” Poe nods. “I’m very good, I’m great.”

Finn smiles. “I know, but we should make sure there’s no complications so you can stay good, yeah?”

“Yeah, okay.” Poe grins. “My truck’s in the parking lot, let’s go.”

“I don’t think you should be driving right now, Poe.”

He scoffs. “I can drive anything, buddy. I’ll have you know I started driving when I was twelve.”

“That seems unlikely,” Finn laughs. “But I can take you, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.” He nods.

“Is there anyone I should call?”

“I’m single.” He blurts out.

Finn blinks. “Um, okay. Is there a friend you want me to call?”

“I’m okay, bud. Totally fine, practically good as new.” He stands up and the world immediately begins to spin again.

“Woah, easy there.” Finn wraps an arm around his waist which is almost worth the brain pain. “We’ll take it slow, okay?”

He nods. “We got this, buddy.”

 

\--

 

He starts to feel pretty drained during the drive to the hospital which, frankly, is fair considering that he worked a full day and was running for almost half an hour and then sustained a head injury. It’s been a big day.

Finn, beautiful, kind Finn says he isn’t allowed to rest, though. It seems kind of backwards but Finn is clearly a great nurse and if Poe was asleep he’d be wasting all this time with Finn, so he stays awake.

It’s totally worth it because he learns a lot about Finn - he works at the hospital they’re going to, he’s got car freshener that smells like flowers, and he’s really beautiful.

Poe knew that last part but he’s never been able to look at Finn for more than a few seconds at a time before.

He’s also really smart and answers all of Poe’s questions about concussions and being a nurse, and he tells Poe funny stories about patients. Most importantly though, is that he’s really kind.

He gets him to the triage area and convinces him to at least call Jess so someone knows what’s going on even if it is ‘just a concussion’ - he actually uses air quotes when he says that.

He might be a little dorky.

Really, it’s a lot for Poe’s tender head to take in. He mostly agrees to call Jess to take his mind off the knee pressed against his.

“Hello?”

“Hey Jess, it’s Poe.”

“Yeah, I know who you are. I also have caller ID. Is this important? I’m kind of on a date right now.”

“Oh, um, sorry. It might be? I’m at the hospital.”

“ _ What? _ What happened?”

“I fell off the treadmill and Finn says I might have a concussion. But I’m okay, he just said I should get checked anyway. To be safe.”

“What the fuck? I’ll be there soon, okay? Where are you? I just have to -”

“Wait, no, I’m really okay. I’ll be fine. It’s not worth ruining your date.”

“Is Finn there?”

“Um… yeah?” He glances at Finn from the corner of his vision.

“Put him on.”

“What? Why?”

“Put him on Poe, or I’m coming there right now.”

He rolls his eyes but winces when it causes a painful spasm. He holds the phone out to Finn. “Uh, she wants to talk to you.”

Finn takes the phone. “Hello? Uh huh… Yes, he should be fine, it’s mostly a precaution. 

Mhmm…”

It continues for a few minutes with Finn talking about him to Jess like he’s not stuffed into the chair right beside Finn’s, until he finally passes the phone back. “I’m going to stay with you.”

“Really?”

Finn nods. “You should have someone with you and neither of us want to ruin their date.”

“Oh,” He should probably update the triage nurse to let her know about the sudden warmth rushing through him. “You don’t have to, I’m a big boy, I really will be okay by myself. My head’s already feeling more like normal.”

“I know we really just met like an hour ago so if you want me to leave I will, but if it were me I think it’d suck to be alone right now. I really don’t mind being here - you’re not half bad company, even if you are concussed. Besides,” Finn grins. “After you get the all clear I can get you the staff room snacks. They’re like, slightly better than the stuff in the hallways.”

He bites his lip, something inside him feeling strangely raw. “Thank you.”

“No problem, man.”

He sighs, rubbing his hands over his face. This really wasn’t how he pictured this going down.

“What?”

He blinks. “Um, sorry?”

“You just said this wasn’t how you pictured it?”

“Oh, Christ.” He covers his face again, his cheeks flaming hot.

“It’s okay, thinking out loud is a pretty classic sign of concussions.”

He nods.

“Poe?” He peeks at Finn from between his fingers. “It’s not how I pictured it happening either.”

He blinks. “What?”

“Poe? Dameron?” He turns around, raising his hand at the person holding the clipboard. “You can follow me.”

He takes a deep breath and tries not to look at Finn too obviously as they both stand up.

He can do this.

 

\--

 

They’re shown to a semi-private room where someone’s already dozing and wait for another fifteen minutes before a doctor comes in. She runs through a neuro test with him - basically the same stuff Finn already did except not as comforting.

She tells him he’s most likely fine but should get a CAT scan just in case because internal bleeding can happen as a result of head trauma and if they don’t catch it he could die. Which is a really fun thing to think about.

Finn takes his hand when the doctor leaves and tells Poe that he’s going to be fine, that the test will just take a couple minutes and they’ll be out of there before he knows it. They don’t even make him change into a hospital gown which Finn says is a good sign.

He agrees. Finn’s already seen him fall and almost kill himself today, the last thing he needs is to be in front of Finn in a hospital gown and the decidedly unsexy white briefs he wore to the gym.

Finn doesn’t let go of his hand until someone comes to collect him for the test.

 

\--

 

The scan does go by pretty quickly - Poe thanks his lucky stars that he’s not claustrophobic, when he’s not thinking about the press of Finn’s hand in his.

He’s taken back to his room and finds Finn dozing with his head resting on his hand.

He’s adorable.

It takes another half hour or so for the doctor to return. She gives him the all clear and immediately takes a heavy weight off of his shoulders. A bit of it comes back when she tells him he’ll need to be woken up every two hours tonight to make sure he doesn’t suddenly tank and gives him a list of symptoms that means he needs to rush back to the hospital. He has roughly thirty seconds to come to terms with that and ask any questions before she’s out the door again.

“So,” Finn leans back in his chair. “Pretty wild night, huh?”

He laughs. “It actually wasn’t half bad aside from y’know, the head trauma and whatnot.”

“Do you need someone to monitor you overnight?”

“Oh my God, you can’t be serious.”

Finn blinks. “What?”

“We didn’t even officially meet until this evening and you spent the whole night just sitting with me. It’s already almost midnight. I stole your whole evening, I’m not going to be the reason you don’t get any sleep either. I’m pretty sure there’s like, three better ways you could have spend your time tonight.” He nudges Finn’s leg. “Maybe even four.”

Finn breathes a laugh, the corner of his eyes crinkling. “Mm, maybe two. Tops.”

“I really, truly appreciate the offer and in another context I’d probably say yes, but you’ve already done so much for me today.” He takes Finn’s hand and turns it between his own. “I’ll let Jess handle that tonight, then tomorrow I’ll be right as rain.”

Finn nods. “Okay. If I give you my number can you text me tomorrow? So I won’t have to worry?”

He bites his lip. “Yeah, I can probably do that.”

He’s pretty sure the butterflies flying figure eights in his stomach have nothing to do with the fall.

 

\--

 

Finn buys him a cup of soup and drives him back to his house, just to prove he really is the sweetest guy Poe’s ever met. He kills the engine after they pull into the driveway and even though Poe can see BB in the window and desperately wants to lie down, he’s not quite able to make himself leave the car.

“Thank you for everything, buddy.” He squeezes Finn’s shoulder. “You’re a good man, Finn. The best.”

Finn smiles. “I’m really glad you’re okay. And it was nice to finally meet you.”

“Yeah, you too.” He pauses. “Although maybe next time I’ll just try talking, instead of making a huge scene.”

Finn laughs. Poe’s pretty sure he’s never going to get sick of that sound. “I wouldn’t totally discount it, man. It was pretty memorable.”

“Speak for yourself.”

“Hey, um.” Finn twists in his seat and manages to mostly face him. “You’re concussed so I’m not going to ask you out right now, but - I think I know what made you trip today and I’d like to make it up to you sometime. With coffee. Or dinner? Or whatever you’d like, really. So - so maybe in a few days when you’re feeling better we can talk about this again?”

“Yes, yeah,” He clears his throat. “Yeah, I think I’d like that. But only if I can make up for tonight and buy you dinner sometime too.”

“Poe, you don’t owe me anything.”

“Actually, you did buy me soup. And I’ll have you know I’m a pretty great chef, so -”

Jess pulls into the driveway beside them.

Great.

He’s painfully tempted to hug Finn goodbye but the last thing he needs is for Jess to have even more questions for him than he probably already does. He settles for squeezing Finn’s hand one last time and tries to commit the softness in Finn’s eyes to his questionable memory. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, yeah?”

Finn nods quickly. “Yeah, definitely.”

“Okay, good.” He pulls himself out of the car and waves to Finn.

Jess crosses her arms as she walks up to him. “So I missed a lot of excitement tonight, huh?”

 

\--

 

He wakes up just before eight with a slight headache and BB snoring beside him. Rolling to his side, he reaches for his phone and opens his eyes when his hand lands on paper instead. 

Everything rushes back when he sees the scary concussion pamphlet.

Oh.

He grabs his phone, something fluttering in his chest when he sees Finn’s name in his contact list. 

_ did last night really happen? _

He rolls over and buries his face in BB’s fur until his phone beeps.

_ yeah, pretty sure _

_ how are u feeling? _

_ like i tried to use a treadmill with my head last night _ _   
_ _ thanks again for everything _

_ np man glad u made it thru the night _

_ yeah me too, wouldn’t want to miss out on that dinner i was promised _

_ :) _

He smiles.

 

\--

 

He texts Finn almost nonstop that day. And the next day, and the day after that. He goes back to work two days after the accident, happy to be back with his kids after two days of laying around doing nothing.

Finn takes him out that night.

They have a nice meal together and Poe is pretty confident that he does a much better job listening than he did on Monday. 

Finn isn't quite the same as the fragments of Poe's memories from Monday night would make him believe - he's even better. Without the headache and the underlying fear that he might be bleeding in his brain he can focus on being with Finn.

He wants to know everything about Finn.

They talk about their childhoods, their jobs, their favourite movies. They talk about everything and nothing and Poe knows deep in his gut that he could never tire of Finn's voice.

They share a brownie after dinner, the warm chocolate melting in his mouth almost as sweet as the date itself.

Poe would be content to stay there forever but the waitress starts to check in on them every few minutes so he takes Finn to the park near his house. They walk close enough that their shoulders brush with every step, their hands tangled together between them.

It's good.

It's incredibly, wonderfully good.

Finn updates him on the gym, tells him that the management contacted him and the handful of other witnesses - which, Poe hadn't thought about that, hadn't even noticed anyone else after he fell, but that's a great thought - to document what they saw to ensure Poe couldn't sue them.

It's not a big surprise, since they did also contact him to see if he was okay and to ask him if he was going to sue them.

“So why’d you start going to the gym in the first place? You don’t seem like the type to be into that stuff.”

“Yeah, I’m not.” He chuckles. “I think I was having a premature midlife crisis, of sorts. It wasn’t a big thing at first, but then I kind of ran into this problem. See, there was this guy.”

Finn glances at him. “Oh?”

He hums. “I’ll never forget the first time I saw him - he was  _ gorgeous _ .”

“That so?”

“Yeah. For months I mooned over him and then my friend started dating his friend which was weird - small world, I guess. But there’s this thing at the gym - you kind of have to act like you’re totally alone in the building, even if there’s thirty other people, you know? And I didn’t want to seem like some weird perv so I just never talked to him.”

"Mm, I’ve been there.” Finn squeezes his hand, a small smile pulling at his lips.

“Then one day - he smiled at me!” Poe stops and turns to face Finn, smiling brightly. “Exactly like that, yeah. How could I not fall for him? I actually quite literally fell so hard that I lost consciousness but even though I made a huge ass of myself he didn’t leave? He was actually right there when I woke up, like an angel, and he made sure I was okay. 

“So now I’m totally fucked because not only is the man ridiculously easy on the eyes - he’s also incredibly kind and funny and probably the nicest man I’ve ever met - and I have no idea what to do about this.”

Finn hums, leaning into him. “Well, I’m no expert but if I were this guy I think he'd want you to kiss him.”

Poe’s breath catches in his throat. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Finn licks his lips. “He’d really like that, I think.”

Poe nods. “I think I can manage that.”

He nuzzles his nose against Finn’s. Finn inhales sharply and Poe is dizzy with the knowledge that he did that, that he can make Finn feel like that. He brushes their lips together, a gentle press that nearly sends him reeling.

He's kissing Finn.

Finn cups his jaw, his thumb grazing back and forth until Poe melts against him. Poe wraps his free arm around Finn's waist - for balance, but also because he  _ can _ \- and holds onto his hand tight, completely overwhelmed by Finn, Finn, Finn. 

They break the kiss eventually, neither of them moving away. He rests his forehead against Finn’s and takes deep breaths to try to calm his racing heart. “So?”

“Good, really good,” Finn nuzzles his nose. “But maybe do that again? To be sure?”

He kisses Finn again.

He knew going to the gym was a good call.

**Author's Note:**

> cw - poe gets a concussion. it's kind of graphic in that it's from poe's pov and he's loopy for a while but the injury/blood itself is not graphic at all
> 
> all of the concussion stuff i took pretty much straight from when i got a concussion (or what i remember of it lmao) it's kind of scary but between my friends and a ridiculously weird thing that happened and the memory loss of the actual scary part it ended up mostly being really funny
> 
> i really appreciate comments and kudos thank u
> 
> i hope you enjoyed!!


End file.
